[Archived] Rovers V Man Utd

[Miker]

For some reason I thought people that actually go to the stadium to watch games, do it for the atmosphere and a good night out with friends or family, not just to watch entertaining football. If spectators went to stadiums just for the entertainment, then I have no idea why people go to watch the cricket.

I fell asleep during the game myself, althought that was more due to the fact that I was out at a music festival and had been physically exhausted after being on my feet for about 8 hours. Really dull game for us in an attacking sense, but we defended brilliantly at all times that I had been watching and the whole team deserves credit.

Let's be pleased with a point against the Champions, continuing our brilliant home record and get behind our team til the end of the season to ensure we reach the highest possible finish for us to get the funds to improve the squad next season.

[DeadlyDirk]

The essence of todays performance was a disciplined and hard working team, who pressed the ball well and defended superbly, possibly a little too deep at times but every one of the team defended well, each time possession changed, I looked at the shape and we were in two solid banks of four, brilliant, thats how you build a team, from the back.

We are short in midfield and really need a good creative player and a proven goalscorer, then we are not too wide of the mark, Olsen is giving us lots of width now and if we get a proven goalscorer or a creater of goals (Kalinic will score goals) we will push on a bit.

About the work ethic, Barcelona for all their quality, worked their ###### off, without that work ethic, Messi wouldnt have the opportunity to play.

What Sam seems to be creating is a spirit and togetherness and he deserves so much credit for the job he has done with so little resources.

Well to be fair Barcelona do copy our style of play, Rafa said so.

[Tom]

Phil jones is superman!

[USABlue]

First class work by the Rovers. Great to see us frustrate the Mancs like that.

The defense was superb, Robbo did what he needed to do when called upon and the midfield improved appreciably when Dunn came on. Olsson looked a huge threat running at the Mancs. That was no 90 minutes of holding out at the Alamo- the match stats showed Rovers at over 50% possession after 85 minutes.

After having had massive doubts about Sam, I really feel the club is heading in the right direction now. Jones and Olsson have been revelations in this last third of the season whilst we have known all season that Nzonzi is a bit of a find as well.

I have to agree with most of that, including the Sam part. Finally over the last few weeks I have seen things looking a little brighter and I think we have the nucleus of a decent team. Peds is poor and I don't care for Diouf. Really enjoying the youngsters, Salgado quickly becoming my new hero. I thought the ref stunk today, anything that could be given for them seemd to be and we got pretty much nothing out of our own half. It's infuriating sometimes it really is. Anyway good point some decent stuff played we just lack some quality link up play up front. Loved the way we frustrated Babytov I can't stand that man. Well done Rovers I enjoyed the game and I haven't been able to say that much this season.

[47er]

I'll take 0 - 0 against Man U any day...

Well fought draw for the Rovers, Man U don't like nowhere near threatening enough without the presence of Rooney on the pitch.

I thought if we had managed to keep possession a bit more and made the passes count we could have just edged a win in the second half.

Excellent ground out result though for the Blues!!1!!!

We kept possession more when the much maligned Diouf came on. Personally I'd have taken Pedersen off at that point.

[USABlue]

What a yawn that was ! We wouldn't have scored if we'd have played until tomorrow. What ever happened to entertainment ? That was garbage. Luckily for us United weren't much better.

I'm just glad it didn't cost me £30 plus to watch that tripe. I'm coming over for the Everton game, God make it better than today.

Scores-

Robbo 6 Didn't have much to do but still worries me too death.

Salgado 6 Ran his heart out and gave it a real go, shame we got him 3 years too late.

Samba 6 Usual performance from the skipper. Missed him in attack.

Jones 6 Very promising performance, he's got a bit of pace and senses danger.

Givet 6 Dogged defending, not much going forward.

Emerton 4 Shadow of the player he was pre injury.

Nzonzi 4 Been a long season for him, he's gone now. Needs resting, he's burnt out.

Grella 7 He was our best in midfield, fresh as a daisy, it's the start of the season for him.

Pedersen 4 He breaks my heart, shall I get my boots down from the loft ? Is it too late?

Ollsen 6 Puts him self about, at least he tries to get forward.

Kalinic 6 A real talent if only we could get him some decent service and support.

Subs-

Nelsen 6 Slotted in like he'd never been away.

Diouf 4 Why ? Was Ollsen injured ?

Dunn 5 One good run and then - ? Nothing.

Get off the Thorzein. Everybody has their opinion but I thought the game was quite entertaining. Not so much for flowing Barca V Arse type football but we gave a good account and it was intruiging and always in the balance and doesn't a lot of the entertainment in footy come from the sheer anticipation of what could happen. I felt entertained and the 90 mins went by really quickly. SOme are just not going to change their sentiment regardless I suppose.

High time you stuck to rugby then Tyrone. I'm sure that you must know more about that.

Yeah he should, I think he liked the whole ball thingy.

[bigbrandjohn]

We are looking good for next season ...well done Rovers.

The result was no fluke, and it showed the squad to be a stronger squad than one or two of us might have initially thought. The young lads Olsson, Jones, NZonzi and Kalinic have been so positive for the team along with the veteran Salgado - class!

If big Sam can improve the squad further come this summer then the plaudits will most definitely come as the results will show that Blackburn Rovers once again mean business in the premiership.

I agree. My only concern is Sam's comments about class in front of goal. Kalinic is very skillful but a one man strike force with no one to hold the ball off for, means that we need to either play two strikers, or have players coming through who can score. Kalinic cannot do both. Thats where the improvement in the squad needs to come from. Dunn played that role earlier in the season but seems to have lost ground.

[Seedstral]

Yesterday was never going to be a classic but after watching who cares as i certainly dont. Forget the players we were up against and look at the name "Manchester United" so called biggest club in the world and we gained a point from them and dented their title hopes too!! I for one am a very happy person and yes it was a poor game but theres no doubting that these lads have come round to Big Sams way of thinking as they were awesome, Yes we lack in certain departments but we dont have the kind of cash to pay what our so called illustrious neighbours have done in the past (and yet we both looked liked we were never going to score if we were still playing next week). The whole back four was immense and i think a special mention must go for Gael Givet for his header on the touchline with Neville as it was a joy to behold seeing him wondering what the hell hit him and all for a throw in. Onwards and upwards and long may it continue!!

[deryck guyler's spoon]

The essence of todays performance was a disciplined and hard working team, who pressed the ball well and defended superbly, possibly a little too deep at times but every one of the team defended well, each time possession changed, I looked at the shape and we were in two solid banks of four, brilliant, thats how you build a team, from the back.

We are short in midfield and really need a good creative player and a proven goalscorer, then we are not too wide of the mark, Olsen is giving us lots of width now and if we get a proven goalscorer or a creater of goals (Kalinic will score goals) we will push on a bit.

About the work ethic, Barcelona for all their quality, worked their ###### off, without that work ethic, Messi wouldnt have the opportunity to play.

What Sam seems to be creating is a spirit and togetherness and he deserves so much credit for the job he has done with so little resources.

I think you are bang on the money there Kelbo. Defensively and in terms of our organisation we are a universe away from where we were under Paul Ince and I have to admit that Allardyce deserves great credit for that.

That being said, we created vertually nothing yeaterday and also couldn't put 10 man bottom club Pompey to the sword. Sadly we aren't the sort of club that can bring the kind of player who can pry open the likes of Vidic and Ferdinand unless we are scouting one from obscurity. Poor Kalinic deserves a medal and his attitude was in stark contrast to Berbatov who moaned and slagged off that young Italian kid throughout the game. He was a disgrace and, talented as he is, he's the sort I wouldn't want any where near Rovers.

In terms of vocal support, tbh on the coverage we got you could only hear manyoo fans. It's not uncommon though and there is an awayday culture amongst their support that is galvanised by the anti Glazer movement. They really do know how to get behind thier team away from Old Trafford even if much of it is prompted by printed song sheets

I enjoyed the "handball!" stuff though which came through loud and clear!

[thenodrog]

........The whole back four was immense and i think a special mention must go for Gael Givet for his header on the touchline with Neville as it was a joy to behold seeing him wondering what the hell hit him and all for a throw in. Onwards and upwards and long may it continue!!

Credit to Neville. Nobody can stand him and he must have been seeing stars for a time but fair play he never play acted or moaned to the referee. Compare that to the behaviour of their centre forward.

[tony gale's mic]

What a yawn that was ! We wouldn't have scored if we'd have played until tomorrow. What ever happened to entertainment ? That was garbage. Luckily for us United weren't much better.

I'm just glad it didn't cost me £30 plus to watch that tripe. I'm coming over for the Everton game, God make it better than today.

Scores-

Robbo 6 Didn't have much to do but still worries me too death.

Salgado 6 Ran his heart out and gave it a real go, shame we got him 3 years too late.

Samba 6 Usual performance from the skipper. Missed him in attack.

Jones 6 Very promising performance, he's got a bit of pace and senses danger.

Givet 6 Dogged defending, not much going forward.

Emerton 4 Shadow of the player he was pre injury.

Nzonzi 4 Been a long season for him, he's gone now. Needs resting, he's burnt out.

Grella 7 He was our best in midfield, fresh as a daisy, it's the start of the season for him.

Pedersen 4 He breaks my heart, shall I get my boots down from the loft ? Is it too late?

Ollsen 6 Puts him self about, at least he tries to get forward.

Kalinic 6 A real talent if only we could get him some decent service and support.

Subs-

Nelsen 6 Slotted in like he'd never been away.

Diouf 4 Why ? Was Ollsen injured ?

Dunn 5 One good run and then - ? Nothing.

Sod off across to Turf Moor, you'd be welcomed with open arms.

[deryck guyler's spoon]

Sod off across to Turf Moor, you'd be welcomed with open arms.

I'm sorry but, imo, that is such a poor post.

[TimmyJimmy]

It felt like a 0 - 0 before the start, that was my prediction and I have to say I'm more than happy with the result. Stunned that there are some on here who are not.

If this is the poorest ManU team for a while, so what? Are we only allowed to take points of unbeatable teams? If that's the case we should fess up to the FA that we didn't deserve the points taken against the other 17 teams who are below ManU in the league - how dare we beat teams who are poorer than a very poor ManU? B*ll*cks isn't it. Where exactly do some of you take joy from in your lives, does life seem that pointless to you that even this can't cheer you up?

Back to the important stuff, thought the team were fantastic and Sam got the tactics spot on, again. Salgado was MoM for me, Robbo saved the game for us, Givet repaid the entry fee with that one brill tackle, haven't smiled as much in a long time, awesome Gael my friend.

Take a bow Blackburn End, the hand ball stuff had me laughing til it hurt.

Jones is going all the way isn't he. Still we need to make sure that we don't get carried away, to be honest I thought that if he was 31 and put in that performance I'd have thought job well done, but then I'd expect it, solid, safe yet unspectacular - like Nelson who did a similar job when he came on. Giving Jones MoM was just sentimental voting due to his age and over hyping the lad right now may not be that helpful in the long run. Everyone needs to keep their feet on the ground including us. He'll be great on day but yesterday there were others I'd have given the Champers to.

As said by many, the future is bright for next season, we just need a bit of cash support now for Sam to further develop the squad. I trust his judgement, he's earned the respect, so if it was me I'd back him with the money, nothing silly, but just loosen his handcuffs up a bit please Trust guys.

Manager of the year?

[Guest roverspogges]

Why are there so many people complaining about the so-called negativity in this thread? I've read all of the posts during and after the game and there isn't much negativity at all. I think YOU are the miserable gits who are picking up on a few negative comments and winding yourselves up.

[thenodrog]

He'll be great on day but yesterday there were others I'd have given the Champers watch to.

Peter Jackson's is a jewellers not an 'offie' TJ.

[den]

From our home games against Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool, it's easy to see why England have no representatives in the CL semi finals.

[thenodrog]

From our home games against Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool, it's easy to see why England have no representatives in the CL semi finals.

And witness to the fact that the old guard in the Premier League are in decline.

Rivercider makes many good points but welcoming overseas investors with open arms usually ends in tears more often than not. MU and Lpool face lots of uncertainty in the near future, the ills at Pompey and WHU are well documented, but for the Arab rescuers Man City's original foreign owner would have put them in deeper sh1t than Pompey by now whilst Chelsea are exisiting solely at the whim of a Russian and ultimately very vulnerable.

False prophets / Fools gold. It's all so easy when football supporters are so gullible.

[JC4LAB]

Dont understand Utd team selection ..Fletcher their best player after Rooney missing.Carrick who has naff games but often scores against us not there. Evra missing ..As for Sam not going Fergie any favours we didnt even shoot ..What more can they ask..A Phil Neville type own goal?Expected to see a sea of red but saw more Yellow and Green .Yellow and green scarfs and cheering Glazier out was hardly the right Battle cry to be making at a game as important as this to them...Jones was great again..

[CrazyIvan]

As for Sam not going Fergie any favours we didnt even shoot ..What more can they ask..

Erm, yes we did... Watch some highlights...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Sod off across to Turf Moor, you'd be welcomed with open arms.

One or two on here need to take off their blue and white glasses.I saw my first game in 1961 so I don't any lectures on loyalty. I called it as I saw it, My mate who's a " City" fan who played to a good standard sent me a text after the the game - it contained one word - "Dire". Yes it's great to get a point off the red rats and it's better still to have put a spoke in their wheel but lets not kid ourselves.Most non- rovers would have been bored to tears.

One or two stats

-Possession, Rovers 33%- Rats 67%

Passing success, Rovers 57%- Rats 80.4% ( Only Stoke had a worse figure than us in the Prem with 48.5)

Shots on target, Rovers 1- Rats 4

Shots off target, Rovers 2- Rats7

Corners, Rovers 1- Rats7

My paper ( The Guardian) gave the following scores for our back four-

Salgado 6,Samba 6,Jones 6, Givet 6. Funny but that's exactly the scores I gave them. Maybe their reporter watched another game as well.

I'll be there on Saturday with my son and my mum ( yeh she's nearly 80, maybe you'd like to tell her to go to the Turf ) all of us hoping for a Rovers win but most of all hoping for some goal mouth excitement.

[den]

And witness to the fact that the old guard in the Premier League are in decline.

Rivercider makes many good points but welcoming overseas investors with open arms usually ends in tears more often than not. MU and Lpool face lots of uncertainty in the near future, the ills at Pompey and WHU are well documented, but for the Arab rescuers Man City's original foreign owner would have put them in deeper sh1t than Pompey by now whilst Chelsea are exisiting solely at the whim of a Russian and ultimately very vulnerable.

False prophets / Fools gold. It's all so easy when football supporters are so gullible.

I was watching football saturday, when they interviewed half a dozen Liverpool fans about their club being put up for sale. To a man, they all said that what Liverpool needed was investment! I thought these scousers knew their football? Liverpool need more investment - yeah right. They want someone as rich as, or richer than the Sheik at Man City. When are people and fans within football going to get real? The PL clubs are becoming a huge devouring machine. As they get fatter, they need to devour more and more. The PL bosses can't stop it because these clubs wont allow it. It's all going to implode sometime.

BTW, news headlines this morning suggesting Rafa wants another £60m to spend this summer.

[CrazyIvan]

A quick point on this and recent results taking a look back... Earlier in the season we got battered at Chelsea and Arsenal and well outplayed at Old Trafford. We were awful on the road and were constantly conceding 3 or more, at least it felt like that. A fair few people were looking at this season and these late season games as potential games that would relegate us. How much has that changed?

We've become very hard to beat at home whereas previously, even under Hughes, we would have expected a defeat yesterday. We have lost 3 with 4 wins and 3 draws in the last 10 games. We've conceded 10 and scored 10 in the last 10 games. All this with a strike force barely managing to break into double figures between them. I know we'd all like to win all the games but the record we have at home and, recently, away has made a great deal of difference to our league position. So much so that some people are not being very kind (putting it politely) to our players based on yesterday's performance. Give them, and Sam, some credit. They have turned this potentially disastrous season into something fairly pleasant to behold. We'd all love to be challenging for a European spot (or the Premier League title going all season winning every game we play) but I think most of us acknowledge that with this squad and the money we have it isn't going to happen any time soon. Big Sam has turned our fairly youthful squad into a team that matches the top teams at home and refuses to lie down and be beaten by anyone. All we need now is a goal scorer.

Take a look back and remember what you were thinking at the end of October looking at the remainder of this season. Now think of the difference between then and now.

[RoyRover]

I'm delighted to have gotten a point out of this game and put a spanner in the works for United. I thought we worked hard, were solid at the back and made it difficult for United and only gave up one opportunity which Robinson saved brilliantly. Salgado had another fine game, as did Jones. I was glad to see Nelsen coming back as well, although he will have a fight on his hands to get his place back off Phil Jones if Samba is fit. Vince Grella getting 90 minutes was another plus. Again though our attacking abilities were hopeless. We fail with some of the very basics of football - passing, control, movement and support. All too often we just lump the ball up the pitch in the vague direction of one of our players. I thought Kalinic worked very hard, but what is he going to do with high balls, when monsters like Vidic and Ferdinand are behind him? Our entire attacking game plan is based around getting throw ins, corners and free kicks which can be just be humped into the box and hope that someone gets on the end of it. I don't think we won one header from these in the entire game. As we have all been saying, there is an urgent need for the injection of some creativity to the side, if we are to improve. Our attacking inabilities don't really bother me when we play United, because they are a very good team. But we can't go on like this, if we are to move forward. We have a solid goalkeeper and defence to build on, which all good teams need. I think we have 12 clean sheets this season which is outstanding. If we could add a few players with some pace, creativity and goals (which will cost money) we would do very well.

[Kelbo]

My paper ( The Guardian) gave the following scores for our back four-

Salgado 6,Samba 6,Jones 6, Givet 6. Funny but that's exactly the scores I gave them. Maybe their reporter watched another game as well.

.

Interesting, all the pundits on television are applauding a great defensive display, Jones got M.O.M - Salgado had a good game too and not one of the back for gets above a 6???

Quite odd.

[tonyoz]

Thought Diouf did okay when he came on and his ability to keep hold of the ball is something none of our other players do as effectively. Kalinic was isolated for a large part of the game although he appeared to get the rough treatment everytime he got the ball under any sort of control.

Yes, Kalinic was isolated and yes, he was up against top quality defenders but I was disappointed with his performance. Up until that neat pass through to Diouf on 85 minute I don't think he won a single ball and I can't recall even one layoff that he managed until then. No matter what you say about Diouf he has the ability to gather the ball and hold on to it. More often than not he draws the foul. He played a useful role yesterday IMO.